Where I am now.

[oro50]

Today marks end of week 5

Tested ammonia and nitrite this morning. Was two or three days ago, a little bit green/yellow. 0.25 ammonia.

Today: Seemed very yellow, I would say either very low or 0 ammonia now.

Nitrite was 2 or 3 days ago 2pmm to 5pmm, color was light purple

Today: Light blue 0 nitrite

If nitrates are still in the water, will replace now with RO/DI water, that I am starting to make now.

I think at this point the tank is cycled and ready for one fish.

 

[Buck0land]

It sound like your ready for a fish just take it slow.

 

[KathyC]

There is no reason to start a new thread when you post additional info about cycling your tank.

You should be sure your ammonia and nitrites are definitely at zero and your nitrates are also low before adding a clean up crew. That would be your first addition, not a fish.

 

[oro50]

SO I replaced most of my water now with RO/DI water.

What creatures should I start out with as a clean up crew?

How much are they?

 

[Jlavine]

Snails and hermits. Go to your local fish store, they will help you.

 

[oro50]

Yeah see this is where im not sure how to proceed. I read a article, that stated the benefits of these clean up crew creatures, yet at the same time argued that they were not a necessity and despite benefits to the tank like eating algae they could bring drawbacks, which i cant recall right now. For one fish not sure if a clean up crew is necessary?

 

[thirty6]

Beside cleaning/helping with algae build ups they will help clean up uneaten food that you give your fish. They also add some diversity to the tank.

 

[oro50]

Curious about what I'm doing now.

Hello,

So I am now moving towards the end of week six of my cycle for my new 20 L gallon tank. I held off so far another week before getting my fish for several reasons.

So I changed my water I think about 95% last week. Say last saturday sunday or friday?

Anyway all the new water is RO/DI water.

With that said, my ammonia level now is very low or at 0

Nitrites are now 0

Nitrates last time I checked a few days ago, was now 10 or 20ppm, though this is way down considering a week before the water change they were about 160ppm


With this said, I was already going to buy my first fish, but a employee at Manhattan aquariums said I should still wait, as even a trace of ammonia was bad for the fish.

I countered with, "Well if a fish constantly produces ammonia from it's gills it can't be so bad if it's surrounded by just a trace of ammonia in the tank."

She countered with, "See yes that's true, but you know a tank is cycled when the ammonia the fish produces naturally is instantly consumed by the nitrifiying bacteria in the tank."

Thus I learned a new thing here. The bacteria doesn't quickly consume ammonia, it is suppose to instantly consume it?

Anyway, so I added a small cleaner crew into the tank.

I have one ninja star, one chestnut and one bumblebee snail, and 3 hermit crabs.

I am also adding though three more nassarius snails?

I am doing this because knowing I had to feed them something, I think I added maybe a little bit too much fish food, and just wanted a few more snails to eat up any leftover detritus in the tank.

I am also doing this, because as they eat up whatever leftover fish food is in my tank, I'm hoping any ammonia coming off the fish food will be held in check at least until the nitrifying bacteria I added into the water the other day takes hold and consumes it.

My question is now how much longer should I hold off getting a fish?

I plan to do another test 2 days from now.

If ammonia is totally yellow, nitrites are blue, and nitrates are very low, I think it will be ok then to finally add one fish?

I'm also wondering if I should feed everything in my tank right now just algae wafers I have, or let them consume it off the live rock I have in the tank, which is roughly 15lbs worth?

 

[ReefWreak]

Let the clean up crew do their thing for a week, then see where you are.

Did you ever get any algae on your rocks? Green, brown, red, purple, pink, anything?

That's how I knew that my cycle was over (it was delayed/I couldn't tell because I kept the lights off, trying to avoid algae. After talking to one of the guys at Manhattan Aquariums, he said that algae growing was his indication of the finish of a cycle, so I let my lights run after that, and then once the algae did move in, I went back to MA and bought a clean up crew of 6 astrea snails and 6 blue reef hermit crabs. They ate the algae, tank is cycled).

I wouldn't mess with feeding anything right now. If you've added food, and it's still in there, then give it time to dissolve (I was surprised, it took my tank about a week. I was surprised it ever would dissolve).

Check for algae.

As for the ammonia thing, this was a topic that I discussed at length with one of the guys at MA as well, the point of you need to keep the nitrifying bacteria alive, but don't want to keep adding ammonia, how long until you add a fish. The short answer is that once your tank is reasonably low (preferably NONE) of ammonia (I can never tell with the API kit), and your nitrates are increasing or raised, then you're ready to start adding stuff.

You just kept adding boatloads of ammonia, so your cycle has been all over the place.

Start planning to add a fish in 2 weeks. What fish are you considering? What do you want your tank to be ultimately?

 

[akma]

Be patient. More patient you are now, more stable tank will be. You can try to add more bacteria. Prodibio is good.

 

[ReefWreak]

lol I wouldn't even say to add anything. Just ride it out. Your tank is fine, and will get better. Only thing to add now is regular water changes, and eventually some fishes.

 

[oro50]

Response

I added a bit too much of pure ammonia only twice.

Despite that, (which might have or not been a setback). First off, this was over 2 or 3 weeks ago.

Besides that for most of the five weeks during this cycle, yes I added pure ammonia, but just a little bit each day, because I was concerned that the bacteria strain that eats ammonia for energy didn't have enough for lunch.

With that said, for the last 2 weeks I have added absolutely zero pure ammonia, meaning nothing.

I have added a little bit of fish food, and just a little more in the last day, because now I have live invertebrates.

With that said, I added a little bit of algae wafers, but I am no longer adding food for at least another day.

In terms of algae, out of my 15lbs of live rock, I believe every single rock has some red, purple or green stuff on it. I believe all of this is algae.

With that said, yeah I am not trying to add any more food for at least another day or so, because I do not want to raise the ammonia level that much anymore.

Last question I have right now is, if I think my ph is a little low compared to what is recommended, and I want to raise the salinity just a little bit,

as I make some new RO/DI water, I mix salt with it a-lot, and how much mixing should I do, before I add this potential new water to the tank?

I found out that if I added salt directly into the tank now, I would burn the invertebrates?

 

[Jlavine]

We're glad to hear you stopped dosing ammonia. Now stop feeding an empty tank! Go buy some more crabs and hermits as only 3 of each will not cut it, especially since you are discussing an algae bloom.

Never add salt directly to your tank. Adjust your salinity in your freshly made RO as directed on the salt and test with a refractometer (NOT a hydrometer). Have you tested your RO/DI for total dissolved solids (TDS) to make sure you set it up correctly?

 

[oro50]

I have a immediate situation?? Not sure what to do?

Hello,

So I just now introduced the nassarus snails into their new home?

However after finding some cool spots in the sand, and making sure they fed a little bit on algae pellets, I noticed that one started noticing the chestnut snail that has already been in the tank for 2 days.

He's like obsessed with this snail?

I am not sure if both are communicating with each other, or he is just looking over this chestnut snail?

Reason I ask is, I have had a chestnut (orange) and a ninja star for about 36-48 hours and I've noticed they haven't moved like in that entire time?

When I asked if they might be dead

I got several responses.

Fish expert at a store told me, that if I could see the snail inside the shell it was still alive? Thus if I saw a empty shell it had passed?

Furthermore when I picked up the chestnut earlier (say a day ago), it retracted itself inside of it's shell.

As for ninja star (outside of barely movement) he has been lying in the sand for like 2 days now I think, where I placed him without a movement?

I'm just wondering if these guys are dead, because I read that if they are and I leave them in the tank that can lead to some sort of contamination to the tank? Though I don't even know what type of contamination?

 

[oro50]

I got another issue too?

Right last question so far?

So as I understand it, if I put in salt directly into the aquarium to add salinity, that would burn the invertebrates.

Why you need to mix it with RO/DI water separately, before doing so.

Ok, so when I add salt to any future RO/DI water I make, how many times am I suppose to mix it, to make sure the salt I guess completely dissolves?

What I mean is, how many times am I suppose to stir it around?

 

[oro50]

Yeah I tested TDS. It was 0 as it said it should be?

 

[watevadog5]

I'm going to say this, although I'm sure I'm not the only one thinking it.... You have done zero research before waking up one morning and deciding you wanted a saltwater aquarium. I keep telling myself you came on this site as a joke because your posts are exactly that... A joke. I scratch my head when I see yet another thread started by you, asking some questions that make no sense. I'm shocked people still answer you. Read a book, use the internet... Become educated sooner rather then later.

 

[oro50]

The purple, red and green stuff on my rocks, as I described earlier, came with the live cured rock I bought. It's nothing new, except for a side of one of my cured live rocks. Green growth along the left side of it is completely green, I only noticed that like 2 weeks ago, and as I said, it's almost now going on six weeks since I started the cycling process.

 

[oro50]

This forum is meant to ask questions from other people with more experience. That is why I came onto this forum. I completely believe my questions make sense.
With that said, it's easier to ask from people with more knowledge on this forum, then it is from searching out answers on the internet, which sometimes actually conflicts with what people say on here. This is one reason again I use this forum, in order to validate some of the stuff I have read on my own.

 

[Jlavine]

What's with all the weird punctuation? You do know the difference between a ? and . right?